Broken
by MassEffectMaster
Summary: The sequel to "Mass Effect: Rebirth" and "Fugitive". Commander Shepard has endured endless trials and come out still standing. But with his body having been augmented by Cerberus, the entire galaxy distrusting him for supposed acts of terrorism, and his friends questioning him as the Reapers arrive, he faces his greatest challenge-can he unite a galaxy that hates and fears him?
1. Unleashed

Alright. Beginning of the end here. At this point, if you haven't read my first two stories: "Mass Effect: Rebirth" and "Fugitive", then a lot of this stuff will be completely nonsensical. And for Mass Effect 3 content, that's where things start to get REALLY AU. Thanks for reading!

* * *

Shepard sat in his cell. He had counted the days. The Reapers would be here any day now. Only when the galaxy was on fire would he be granted a pardon. And it was time.

* * *

"These readings just don't make sense! We've lost contact with Luna Base!"

Anderson glanced at the younger officer, "The moon? They can't be that close!"

Another officer called out, "We have video feed from London, sir."

"Play it on the main screen."

After a moment of static the image appeared. Reapers were attacking, by the dozens. And that was just in one city. It could only have been a few minutes, if that, since they landed, but already buildings were leveled and the destruction was evident.

Anderson sighed, "Get Shepard."

"What about the Parliament? The Prime Minister?"

"The Reapers are smart. If they're not dead already, they will be in a couple of hours. Even if they are alive, I think they'll be willing to make an exception."

* * *

Cynthia Shepard sat in one of the copilot seats of the Normandy. "Ready Joker?"

"Ready. Captain."

"Is Williams onboard?"

EDI's synthetic voice emanated from the ceiling, "Lieutenant Commander Williams is accounted for."

"Excellent. Get to Alliance Headquarters in Vancouver. We have someone to pick up."

* * *

Shepard waited patiently in his cell. A tremor. Another. He could hear gunfire and explosions. Finally, the door to his cell began to malfunction, opening partway before stalling. Humanity's first Spectre walked to the door nonchalantly and used his biotics to blast what remained of the door out of it's hinge. He could see as soldiers scurried about, panicking. He knew his destination. He began to walk to the Alliance Council's chambers.

When he finally reached it, he saw nothing but corpses. Anderson was amongst the wreckage, trying to free his legs from a giant metal piece of debris. Shepard easily threw it across the room, "Anderson."

"Shepard! We have to go!"

"I'm well aware of that. Where to?"

"The Normandy is waiting for us at the spaceport, we can take the path outside the window!"

Shepard nodded. They leapt out through the shattered window onto the walkway outside and began to sprint, traversing the terrain to reach their only chance for escape. They entered a building, blasting their way through too many husks to count. As they walked in, another husk burst through the malfunctioning door. Shepard rolled his eyes and used his biotics to accelerate his fist, smashing the husk out of the door.

He held it open for Anderson so that he could squeeze through the small opening. Probably not a good idea to try blasting the door off its hinges if they had other options. Shepard waited patiently, catching a glimpse of a small child in a vent. He had seen that kid before. Every now and then when he was being interrogated or in rooms with a window he could see the child playing outside with a toy spaceship.

Shepard slowly approached the vent. The child backed away slowly, obviously scared of the monstrous scars and mechanical eyes looking at him, "No!" Shepard's protective instincts kicked in, "You have to trust me. I can save you!"

The child shook his head, "No. No, you can't save anyone! Everyone's dying!"

"Shepard! Door's open!"

Anderson's voice caught his attention and Shepard turned his head. He looked back in the vent and-he was gone. The vent hadn't rattled, he had heard nothing, and yet the child was gone. He felt a throbbing pain in his head, "Urgh... I'm coming."

He walked through the door to join Anderson, trudging forward as they crawled under and around wreckage. Anderson grumbled, "This is a god damn mess! Every minute these things are here thousands of people die! I won't be held responsible."

Shepard kept his mouth shut. He honestly had nothing comforting to say-it was the Alliance's fault as a whole, if not the entire galactic community.

Anderson continued, "They got here so fast... I thought we had more time."

"We knew they were coming."

"And still they just cut through our defenses! We need to go to the Citadel. Talk to the Council."

Shepard nodded, "I know. We need a fleet if we're going to stop them. Otherwise the Reapers will destroy everything. But you really think they'll be so eager to help?"

The duo began carefully sliding along a narrow piece of metal-all that connected two platforms.

"No. But you were a Council Spectre, that has to count for something."

Shepard, despite himself, let out a grim laugh, "We'll see. They haven't exactly been helpful so far and-"

Shepard's footing was compromised, he began to fall but Anderson grabbed he hem of his sleeve and pulled him back.

"Thanks, Anderson. I owe you one."

"Heh. More than one."

They finally reached the end of the building, jumping out of the window onto the landing below. They just kept running. Anderson tried to call Ashley, and after a few tries they finally got a distorted response, "We...-at the Normandy...-take down that dreadnought...-ake cover!"

Anderson turned to Shepard, "You understand that?"

"I think I-oh shit."

Suddenly a dreadnought in the skies above detonated in a fiery spectacle. The shockwave smashed into the building they were standing on, leaving them to slide down the crumbling structure as it fell. Shepard landed on his feet, "You alright Anderson?"

He glanced over, the Admiral looked half dead. "Yeah... I'm ready Shepard, let's go." They continued running as Anderson radioed the Normandy, "We can't make it to the spaceport, there's a crashed gunship nearby. We're activating the beacon."

A jumbled response came back.

They finally reached the gunship, stepping over dozens of dead Alliance soldiers in the process. Anderson activated the beacon and tossed Shepard an assault rifle. Not exactly top of the line, but it would do. Those things that he had seen on the batarian colonies were swarming them alongside husks.

Anderson yelled over the clamor of crashing buildings and screaming civilians, "Take cover!"

"No sir. I've got a better idea."

Shepard's biotics flared, a cerulean aura engulfing his body. He rocketed from one 'Cannibal' as they had come to be called by the batarians to another, driving his fist into them to leave them twitching masses of flesh. When he returned to Anderson's side, he muttered, "Had plenty of time to hone my abilities in prison."

Anderson was simply trying to make contact with the Normandy-nothing was happening. They could only hope the Normandy had heard them, else they would die on Earth like all the others. Shepard and Anderson lay down suppressing fire to the huskified monstrosities charging them. Shepard lifted one and waved his hand, throwing it into the river besides them.

At last a refreshingly familiar voice came, "Cavalry's here!" It was Joker, his voice accompanying a javelin missile smashing into the oncoming enemy forces. The Normandy flew up besides the crashed gunship and for the first time in a year Shepard felt hope. The landing pad opened and Shepard took a flying leap onto it. Ashley-much to his surprised-grinned at seeing him. "Welcome back, Shepard."

"Thanks."

Anderson however, lagged behind. "Shepard!"

"Come on!"

"No... I'm not going. You saw what was left of those men back there. They're going up against impossible odds and they need a leader."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, get on this ship!"

"We need someone to coordinate the ground forces. Now get out of here. That's an order!"

"You can't give me orders anymore, remember?"

Anderson pulled some dogtags from a pocket on his uniform and tossed them to Shepard, "Consider yourself reinstated... Commander."

Shepard caught them and looked at Anderson.

Distraught ripped across Shepard's face, "I... I understand. I'll find a way, I'll amass a fleet of every species in the galaxy. And I **will** come back. Good luck Anderson."

"You too Shepard."

Ashley, Shepard, and the one who had guarded him-James-stood on the landing pad, overlooking Anderson and escaping shuttles and other ships. Something caught his eye-he could see the child from before looking at him from the ground below. Alliance officials herded him and a few others into shuttles, taking off in hopes of escaping the approaching Reaper.

The child boarded the shuttle, it and a few others took off. Before they could even begin to get away, the Reaper's thanix cannon blasted one shuttle and crippled the other one, leaving it to smash into a building in a flaming ball of metal.

Shepard closed his eyes and bowed his head as the landing pad finally closed. "Get us the hell off this planet Joker."

* * *

Beginning of part three. Please review!


	2. Mission Failed

Please review. I was very disappointed with the number of views and reviews for "Fugitive" given the proportionate popularity of "Mass Effect: Rebirth". Oh well. Still I'm hoping this does better. Please review if you can because that's the main reason I keep doing this-if there are no reviews I interpret it to mean that in some way the content was flawed and I have no idea why.

* * *

Shepard nodded at Cynthia as she walked into the hanger. "Oh come on now, a year without contact and I get a nod?" Cynthia wrapped her arms around her brother and Shepard slowly acquisced. "I missed you Cynthia."

"I missed you too John."

After a few moments they disengaged, and Shepard averted his eyes, "So uh... You're captain of the Normandy now, huh?"

"Officially, but now that you're reinstated, Anderson wants you to take over."

"And you're... okay with that?"

"Taking a background role to making all the races in the galaxy unite? They hate each other Shepard. I think I'll be okay not having to do that."

A faint grin crossed his face, "You sure? Sounds like fun."

"I think I'll pass."

James stormed up to Shepard angrily, "What the hell is going on? Why are we leaving Earth?"

Shepard sighed, "You want to go back. Great."

"We can't just abandon-"

Shepard cut his statement short with a vicious glare, "You want to die, go throw yourself out the airlock. I have no patience for those too stupid to see the bigger picture. If you're going to be an irritating death seeker then I have no use for you."

Vega staggered backwards as if he had been struck, "I... Alright. I get your point. I'll stay."

Shepard shrugged and returned his focus to Cynthia, "What's the next move?"

"I... Jesus John, what was that?"

Shepard rolled his eyes, "It's not my job to ensure the safety of every idiot death seeker I happen across. If he wants to die he can do it on his time."

Before she could formulate a response, Joker cut her off, "There's a transmission from Admiral Hackett coming to you in the war room."

Shepard turned to Cynthia, "We have a war room now?"

* * *

Shepard, Ashley, Cynthia and James all sat silently in the shuttle. Vega broke the silence, "So... How-"

Shepard shot Vega a look, "Respect the silence."

Shepard tensed up and checked his armor specs again. Instead of the geth-made armor he usually used, he had to resort to the standard-issue N7 armor.

Thankfully the shuttle finally landed, the door opened, and the quartet piled out. Vega nodded, "Thanks Esteban."

Cynthia awkwardly cleared her throat, "You guys excited to see Liara again?"

Shepard nodded and Ashley just muttered, "Yeah."

The Lieutenant-Commander pulled out her sniper rifle as they approached the entrance to the Mars Archives. She barely had it out before Cynthia exclaimed, "Jesus, they're executing them!"

Ashley aimed at the head of a Cerberus trooper, not even managing to fire off a shot before she noticed her Commander trudging forward.

* * *

"Put your hands in the air!" All of the Cerberus troopers aimed their rifles at the approaching soldier. Shepard stopped walking and just stared at the squad.

"Surrender!"

"I formally accept your surrender. Line up for beheadings."

One of the troopers balked at the statement, "Holy shit... holy shit... that's..."

"Yup. Commander Shepard. And you're the dead people I've heard so much about."

* * *

The Normandy squad stood in the elevator to the Mars Achive interior, silently waiting. Shepard nonchalantly wiped some blood off his helmet. As the chamber decompressed they all wordlessly removed their helmets. Ashley began to speak, "Shepard-"

Cynthia interrupted her, "Respect the silence."

Ashley abided by this rule for a mere few seconds before continuing, "Shepard I need an answer."

Shepard grimaced, Cynthia facepalmed, and James just backed away to the corner of the elevator.

"I don't hold what I saw against you, I know you didn't have a choice, but you have to seriously consider if you still have control over yourself. I've missed you, but if you're-"

"IF I"M WHAT!? Indoctrinated? Controlled by a chip in my brain? Some kind of manchurian agent who will kill you all when someone says a code word? I. Don't. Know. What I **do** know is that Anderson and Hackett assigned me to the Normandy because they think I'm the only one who can rally the galaxy to save Earth. So that's what I'm going to do. If you honestly have lost all faith in me, by all means put two in the back of my head. But until then I am in command and I am capable to lead. Does that answer your god damn question?"

Ashley cringed and backed off, they were all clearly unnerved by the outburst. Mercifully, the elevator stopped and they began to proceed-only getting a few feet before they heard movement in the vents.

Shepard whipped out his rifle and aimed it at the vent.

The vent cover in the ceiling burst open and Liara fell out, carefully levitating to the ground. She promptly launched a singularity at the vent, her reasoning becoming clear as two Cerberus troopers helplessly drifted out, unable to right themselves. The singularity collapsed and they both crashed to the ground. Liara drew her pistol, putting two pullets in each of their heads. "Shepard, Cynthia, Ashley, it's good to see you all. And I don't believe we've met." Liara extended her gloved hand to James.

James grinned, "Vega. James Vega."

Cynthia had a bemused look, "Don't, James. Just don't."

"I can't say hello?"

"You know what you did."

He shrugged and backed away.

Shepard stared at Liara for a moment before the behemoth spread his arms invitingly. She smiled warmly and returned the favor, "I'm so happy you're alright."

"Yeah I know. If I had died I would be real sad."

She lightly punched him in the chest, "You know what I mean."

"I do. Speaking of being alright, what's going on? Why aren't you on Hagalaz?"

"Cerberus."

"Oh... Is Feron-"

"No-no, Feron is fine. We loaded up a shuttle, evacuated the station and rammed the base into the Cerberus ships. Couldn't exactly hide that thing from the Illusive Man forever."

James and Ashley were obviously bewildered. Shepard, upon seeing this, glanced at Liara questioningly. She simply nodded and he explained, "Liara is the Shadow Broker."

James raised his eyebrow and nodded. Ashley, on the other hand began to stammer and grow frustrated, "When were you going to tell me this? Liara you-"

Liara's eyes narrowed and she walked up to Ashley, "**You** didn't stay in touch." The familiar smile replaced that, "I missed you." They hugged, Ashley somewhat awkwardly accepting the concept.

James grinned, "Cynthia, want to get in on this?"

They all shot him a glare. Cynthia rolled her eyes and sighed, "You know, if we're doing secrets I think I should tell you two" she nodded to James and Ashley, "I'm Shepard's clone, not his sister."

Again, James showed mild shock before shoving it down. And again, Ashley barely repressed her blatant annoyance that she had been so far out of the loop.

A door opened on the platform above the room and all five of the Normandy crew turned to look. Shepard sighed, "That's terrorist organizations for you, always ruining reminiscing with old friends." He biotically smashed into the group and began wailing on the leader, taking a brief moment to wrestle a shield away from one of them.

Cynthia and Liara used their biotics to elevate themselves up while the other two provided suppressing fire. When at last the Cerberus personnel lay dead, Shepard jumped back down, "James I need you back at the shuttle."

"I-what!?"

"We have a few hours tops until that storm hits, we might have to make an emergency extraction and in that scenario we'll need covering fire. Cortez can't exactly do that **and **fly the shuttle. That's an order."

Begrudgingly, James put his helmet on and rushed back to the elevator. Liara looked at him as he left, "I think I found something while I was here. It's a Prothean device-schematics for one anyway-that supposedly might be able to destroy the Reapers. A little bit of desperation mixed with sorting through all the raw data in these archives finally yielded something."

Shepard nodded, "Tell us about it as we go."

* * *

Liara finally finished, "I was in the process of decoding the plans when the Reapers hit. We just have to get to the right wing-it's across the tram line." She sat down at the tram console, trying to override the system to get them transport to the other side of the archives."

Ashley Cynthia had been examining the soldiers for any information they could provide about Cerberus. Apparently the former had found something, "Shepard I-I... Get over here. Now." He walked towards her position, barely a few yards away, seeing a Cerberus trooper unmasked. It was gruesome, the cybernetic modifications painfully obvious from-_"Do I look like that? No wonder she doesn't trust me."_

"Ash this is... Cerberus is under complete control of the Reapers. They're all indoctrinated and modified."

Ashley grimly stared at him, "Shepard, for all I know this is what they did to you. I'm sorry for what happened on Horizon. I was unfair. But you can't just brush aside the fact that after everything that happened to you... I'm concerned, okay?"

Shepard nodded, "Ash I understand but I'm not anything like them." Internally he added, _"Not yet anyway._"

Liara called out, "I can't override it!"

Shepard nodded and took his helmet off, replacing it with the Cerberus trooper's helmet on the floor. He cleared his throat and spoke in his deepest voice, "We need a tram over here. The intruders are dealt with."

A few moments of unnerving silence and then, "And Shepard?"

Shepard paused for a moment to think. They probably wouldn't believe that Shepard had just been put down by a pack of Cerberus men just because they were using Reaper weapons. Then again, they were indoctrinated and using Reaper weapons, "We activated the sterilization protocol. He's dead."

"Jesus, that easy? Can't believe they couldn't think of something simple like that for the Normandy."

"Yeah. We need to get out of this section before the storm comes down, send over the tram."

"Understood."

He replaced the Cerberus helmet with his own, seeing the visibly disturbed expressions of his entire squad. "Too convincing? I knew I should stop smoking, makes me sound like a Reaper. Get into positions."

* * *

Shepard, his team in tow, walked up to the Prothean artifact in the center of the Mars Archive. Suddenly a hologram appeared. The rest of his team-on edge and conditioned to despise it, aimed their weaponry at the hologram the moment it said, "Hello Shepard."

Shepard just continued to stare at the artifact, trying to ignore the throbbing pain it brought on in his head. Prothean artifacts had a tendency to do that since the beacon on Eden Prime. "Timmy, ol' buddy. Good to see you again. When are you gonna stop hiding behind holograms?"

"The last time I considered leaving my station was when we had you captured, and if I had done that then... well let's just say our sources in the Alliance showed that the wake you left wasn't pretty."

"Yeah, real sorry about that. Next time I won't leave a trace. Next team I'll be sure to detonate the station."

The Illusive Man's face was deadpan as always as he slowly took a drag on his cigar.

"So Tim, why exactly are you fighting us on this? Can't exactly claim to have humanity's best interests at heart if you're robbing the Mars Archives while Earth burns. We could destroy the Reapers together. Give me your resources and they would be a faded memory before you die of lung cancer."

The Illusive Man seemed to seriously consider this for a moment before responding, "You would do better than most, but no. Besides, I don't want to destroy the Reapers. I want to control them."

Shepard finally whirled around to face his nemesis, "You idiot. You think humanity is the best but I do have to give Saren the point here-he was able to figure out he was being indoctrinated, even if he didn't realize it had fully happened until it was too late."

"I am not indoctrinated Shepard. Far to the contrary, the Reapers will soon be under my control and-"

Shepard's eyes widened. "You're distracting me. From what?"

Ashley called out, "Shepard! It's Eva Core! She's escaping!"

Shepard's eyes widened and he began a full-out sprint after the woman he could barely see escaping as she ran out the exit of the chamber. He began to biotically fling himself from room to room as he chased her. _"She's impossibly fast-this doesn't make sense..."_ He chased her up a ladder, barely grabbing her ankle only to earn a kick to his helmet. She didn't even have any armor on and they were heading outside! Granted, Miranda had a rebreather instead of a helmet most of the time, but still.

They finally reached a part of the archive exposed to the air, dashing through the pillars and cabling keeping it together. She ran up the final ladder to the surface of the facility, Shepard on her heels. He managed to gain on her, from a dozen yards to maybe five feet. He took a deep breath and charged into her, biotics aiding his velocity as he pinned her to the ground.

With a strength uncharacteristic of humans she turned and delivered a kick to his chest, his velocity serving only as a measurement of how forcefully she kicked into him. _"Okay she's not human. Can't be alien-not with that convincing a disguise. That just leaves-AI!"_

They finally reached a landing platform, a shuttle waiting for her. Shepard grabbed his rifle and began firing on the shuttle, forcing it to take off. As he checked besides him he noticed the rest of his team had fallen behind a bit. No matter. Just him and what was hopefully an AI because otherwise he had no damn idea.

Eva turned on him and began firing a pistol, advancing. Wasting no time, Shepard charged her, sidestepping at the last moment to hit her in the side of the head with a shot. Her shields were down that time and she was still standing, a mere dent on the side of her head being the only indicator that she had suffered any kind of injury.

She grabbed his pistol and yanked it towards her, preparing a swift punch to crack his face plating. Instead he dove behind her and activated his omni-tool, stabbing through her chest. She grabbed his arm to keep him still and smashed her elbow on his forearm. He could feel the blow through his armor, an inch or two thinner and he would have a broken arm. Finally Liara, Ashley and Cynthia arrived, all firing on Core as she and Shepard dueled. The Cerberus shuttle came back, swerving parallel to the roof and opening its hatch.

Eva swept Shepard's legs with one of her own and began a sprint off the edge of the platform to an open shuttle.

The door closed as Shepard fired on her. He stared desperately for a second before opening his comms channels, "She's getting away with the data! James, Cortez, Joker I don't give a shit-take her out!"

As the Cerberus shuttle began to ascend a response came from James, "I got this." The Normandy's shuttle smashed into the escaping Cerberus one, sending it spiraling towards the roof. The squad scattered to avoid being hit, Shepard running as he prepared to biotically charge away from the oncoming wreck. A cerulean aura overtook him and he began to move forward.

It was too late. The shuttle smashed on top of him, exploding upon impact in a fiery display.

James landed his own shuttle on the roof delicately as the female trio remaining surveyed the crash apprenhensively before Cynthia voiced their concerns, "Oh...shit."

As if she had been requested, Eva appeared once more, her 'skin' seared off, revealing a metallic body covered in ashes and burns. The squad opened fire on the AI, but Ashley, as the one closest to the wreck, was subject to the punishment as Core grabbed her by the neck and dragged her over to the wrecked shuttle. Ashley could vaguely hear the android ask, "Permission to terminate." before her head smashed into the side of the shuttle repeatedly. Darkness overtook her, but the last thing she saw was Shepard's face.

Literally. The shuttle lifted abruptly as another scarred and burnt body appeared-that of their commander. Eva dropped Ashley and began to charge the resurfacing enemy. Apparently he had the same idea, as the few feet between them was closed practically instantly. She coiled back her arm to try and punch through his faceplate once again, but to no avail. He launched a biotic blast at her, only enough to knock her on the ground but it was enough. Instantaneously he was atop her, smashing into her with armored fists. After a few seconds 'it' began to stop moving as the light in its eyes faded away.

Shepard's fists slammed into it one last time before he fell off her and sprawled out on the floor. Liara and Cynthia inspected him and Ashley respectively as James exited the shuttle, horrified to see the scene before him. He rushed to effortlessly pick up Ashley while Liara and Cynthia focused on their fallen commander.

His flesh was seared, armor fused into the skin at portions. The entirety of his body was black, save for exposed bone. Shallow breaths emanated from his lungs, broken every few seconds by pained coughing. His eyes darted about a few times before they closed.

A raspy whisper escaped scorched lips, "Tali..."

* * *

So yeah. Shepard gets pretty much humiliated and brutalized in my stories. Not altogether sure why. I mean I did the Cerberus thing because I wanted him to be more zealously anti-Cerberus and have biotics, but I promise this is the end of the major traumas-physically at least. Just kidding, I have a grand master plan! Like I said, the timeline and course of events changes in my version so don't be confused about that. Next chapter will exemplify that.


	3. Recovery

Okay so heads up I can't find any descriptions or pictures of the physical portion-not the hologram and generated portions-of an omni-tool. So I always imagined it as three small prongs down your forearm that go up your arm to be a ring around your wrist that snaps shut, and then the holograms are generated from there. That's mildly important to a description here so keep it in mind. Also I thought it was really weird that Huerta Memorial had like, one tiny floor, so I interpreted it to be a very small portiong of one wing of the hospital. And review. Not a single review yet-it makes me wary of continuing with this.

* * *

Liara walked into Huerta Memorial Hospital as had become her tradition. She flashed her visitor ID to the staff as she walked into the burn unit. She entered a room and sat in the chair near the entrance, silently examining Shepard's chart for changes. She put it back down and watched Shepard's chest rise and fall with labored breathing. His body was covered by a sheet from the waist down, a rebreather over his mouth.

It had taken a month and a few million dollars worth of replacement organs, skin grafts, and bone reinforcement. Luckily the money EDI stole from Cerberus before Shepard defected wasn't yet completely exhausted. Shepard's bank accounts still had a few hundred million in it, down from the few billion successfully stolen.

The Council had been of no help. Unable to provide support due to their own conflicts they offered an insignificant token of cooperation-reinstating Shepard as a Spectre.

Ashley slowly recovered as well. It took three weeks for her to wake up from her comatose state and she hadn't yet been cleared for duty, though she was recovering her motor functions. The massive head trauma left large purple bruises that hadn't yet faded. She was in a different wing of the hospital. Her proximity to Shepard had caught the Council's attention and, impressed by her capabilities, they offered her a spot as a Spectre. She hadn't responded yet, but the idea clearly excited her. Occasionally she would visit Shepard as well.

In the meantime Cynthia, as the next in line, commandeered the Normandy. She, James, and EDI utilizing Eva Core's mechanical body led the ground missions to provide support to evacuations of Alliance colonies-although the occasional opportunity for aiding other species and earning their support did come along once or twice. Liara had stayed on the Citadel to look after the two injured combatants as well as serve as the Normandy's representative in trying to sway various forces to the cause.

Liara felt Shepard's hand, recoiling at the feeling of cold metal. The armor fused into his skin had largely been removed, but he still had a few surgeries left. Currently both his omni-tools, still functional, were embedded in his arms. The devices' three small prongs that lightly clamped onto the forearm had partially dissolved, leaving his forearms tinted with a discolored silver hue.

"Hey John." She began to speak, focused on his face. For all their efforts and skin grafts, they couldn't fix the crimson scarring around his face, nor properly examine the red mechanical orbs that had replaced his eyes, save for the observation that it was indeed a red facsimile of the Illusive Man's eyes.

"Ashley's doing well. You may have noticed her visiting you. The doctors say you're doing well too. You look better." The only response was the steady beep of the heart monitor. "EDI has a body now. You kind of missed that. Joker was ecstatic. He's scared for you too you know. I think that's why he's always making those stupid jokes and never lets anything get to him. He feels responsible for your death. He wanted to be a constant in your life. He wants to be there for you. It's been a month but every day people send cards, emails, sometimes they visit... Thane is here too. For his Kepral's Syndrome mostly but still. News even reached the Migrant Fleet, Tali sent me a few emails, Garrus too. They fell out of contact pretty quick but they still care about you. We all do. So get better okay? You have to..."

Tears beaded up in her eyes and she whispered a second time, "You have to..."

His eyes were red now instead of the previous green, his face covered in glowing scars, small pieces of metal in his chest and his arms vaguely silver, but he was still the same man who rescued her from Therum all those years ago. He was still the man that, reciprocation or no, she loved. "Goodbye John. I'll be back tomorrow."

* * *

Ashley took a deep breath lifted herself from her hospital bed to the wheelchair besides it. Her motor functions were mostly intact. She would be able to return to service in only a week, maybe two. Half a century ago that type of injury might've left her bedridden for months. She opened the door to her room and wheeled out, manuvering her way past doctors and shuffling patients to the elevator. She slid in and pressed a button, waiting patiently as the elevator descended.

She had suffered a mild brain injury. Not exactly surprising given an AI had smashed her head against the side of a shuttle several times, but still. The bruising was still evident, so to try and distract from it she got rid of her hair bun and decided to let her hair down. Not exactly going to distract from gigantic purple blotches on her face, but it helped her cope a bit.

The elevator doors opened and she got out, wheeling over past a few doors to Shepard's room. She opened the door and got inside. He looked like shit. Granted he hadn't looked like himself since he died the first time but still it was disconcerting to see him so badly injured, especially so early on in the war. No one fucking listened. Liara tried her best, presenting evidence of the Crucible, but still no one would hear it. Cynthia had also given it a shot and done pretty much what Shepard would've, but without the reputation to back it up even that had fallen flat.

They needed him. The galaxy needed him. He was a symbol, a damn icon, and if he didn't recover soon humanity might follow him to the grave. She felt an intense guilt about how their last conversation had ended. As much as she wanted to, she coudln't trust him. He couldn't trust himself. He could've been indoctrinated, controlled by Cerberus, or both. There had to be a way to be certain though, because she wanted nothing more than to find that her mentor, the man who had made her who she was, was alive and well.

And he really had been her mentor, otherwise the Council wouldn't have offered her a chance to be a Spectre. She couldn't pinpoint her feelings on how it felt. She knew with certainty that she was riding on his coattails, but still it wasn't an opportunity she was keen to deny.

She looked over his unconscious body and smirked, despite herself. She was in a hospital gown and Shepard was naked except for the sheet pulled to cover his lower half. Cerberus had trounced them both before they even left the system. But he had fought them. He didn't submit to them, didn't hesitate, didn't question himself. If Shepard was being indoctrinated then he would show signs. He wouldn't let his mind quietly be taken from him, he would fight. He would always fight.

Funny enough, she noticed his geth-made armor compactly stored in the corner of the room. Smart move. As Liara had said, people would be looking for him. If he managed to wake up in time he might be too weak to defend himself.

She practically never spoke to him, finding it a bit silly to talk to someone who might not even be listening. Shepard would've pointed out the irony in that considering her religious views. She put her hands together and bowed her head, silently praying for the life of her sisters, the galaxy, and the man before her. She gripped his open hand for a second and murmured one thing before leaving, "Please. Wake up."

* * *

Review! There are literally no reviews and it's bumming me out.


	4. Defiant

Like I said, the timeline is different. Also I realized I misread Chellick's first name.

* * *

He took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled calmly. "Shepard is no longer an issue. We have the forces now. This is the perfect chance. He's the only one who ever posed a serious threat and he's incapacitated. It took us too much time to find him for you to back out now, they did a good job of keeping his location off the books. You will carry out the operation and you **will **make sure Shepard is dead. Am I understood?"

The transparent assassin in front of him slowly nodded, "I'll need more forces. I need him."

"Done."

He nodded once again and a vicious smile permeated his face, "I'll handle it. Kai Leng Out."

* * *

Liara walked around the Presidium, taking in the beauty of it all. Between Shepard and dealing with the politics of securing reinforcements for Earth or the Crucible-which had been largely unsuccessful-she barely had time to walk around the gem of the galaxy.

As she looked over a small garden a large convoy of ships darkened the artificla skies above. Confusion swept over her for the briefest of seconds before she noticed the logo on the side of the ship. Her eyes widened, her heart began to beat out of her chest. They were on the Citadel. And all hell was about to break loose.

She began yelling out for people to take cover in the nearest building and drew her pistol-the only weapon she was allowed to carry on the Citadel. Cerberus had made a grave mistake. One that would topple their entire regime. One that would cripple the whole attack. A fatal miscalculation. A glimmer of anger flashed in her eyes.

The Normandy had docked an hour ago.

* * *

The staff of Huerta Memorial Hospital was in hiding behind the reception desk, turned over tables, walls, anything that would conceal them from the attacking forces. The main power was cut, the patients were being kept alive on emergency reserves. Thane cloaked himself-he knew it would be a bad idea to leave it behind when Shepard was incapacitated-and next to the elevator exit. He clasped his hands together and began to pray, "Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness."

The elevator doors opened and a dozen troopers stormed out, aiming their assault rifles at the visible civilians.

A few went into the back room, where they would surely find Shepard. Thane took the opportunity to initiate his omni-blade and stab one in the back, using the dying man as a shield for the fire he drew. When their clips were exhausted Thane dropped the corpse and blasted one of them out of the window with his biotics, sprinting towards another and sliding beneath him, standing up to grip the base of his skull and his chin, snapping his neck effortlessly. His barriers shimmered as bullets hit him. Finally one of them yelled, "ENOUGH!"

Thane stopped in his tracks upon seeing the young asari woman whose neck he had his arm around, with his pistol aimed to her head, "Try that shit again and we'll kill everyone in here. On your knees."

Upon seeing Thane's hesitation he shot her in the head and grabbed another hostage, "On. Your. Knees.

Begrudgingly, Thane slowly lifted his hands and fell to his knees. Before any of the troopers could move to grab him, a shot rang out in the back rooms. Then another. And screaming.

The leader-the one with the hostage-began murmuring into his comms. Thane could barely hear, "...need reinforcements..." All of the remaining Cerberus personnel aimed their guns at the only door to the patient rooms.

The door burst outwards, crushing one of them against the wall. With the lights out it was impossible to see the face of the attacker, but it was clear who it was. Glowing red scars and eyes shone through his helmet in the darkness, and neon red lines along his armor further proved it.

In a terrifyingly deep voice it began to speak, uttering four words. "You made a mistake."

The leader grabbed his hostage and hauled her in front of him as a shield. "Surrender Shepard, we came prepared." In his free hand he pulled out a device no bigger than a grenade out, "One more step and we detonate this. Everybody here will die."

Shepard closed his eyes and looked around the room, his vision seemingly not impaired by the dark. "You killed her." He stared at the asari on the floor.

"And we'll do the same to everyone else! Surrender!"

A deep grating laugh filled the room. "And to think. I was going to kill you quickly."

Before a shot could be fired Shepard biotically charged the Cerberus squad's leader, grabbing his neck and slamming him into the wall, the hostage freed. He barely choked out, "Urgh... Fire you idiots!" before Shepard smashed an armored gauntlet into his chest, breaking several ribs. Bullets impacted Shepard's shields, providing nothing more than an annoyance. He turned to see the men firing upon him and slowly raised a hand bathed in a biotic glow. The gunfire continued, but his shields returned to their natural invisible state.

When their weapons had overheated they slowly began to back away from the glowing monstrosity in front of them. It was only now that they could see exactly how much they had underestimated him. The bullets they had fired were levitating with that same biotic glow about them, their velocity removed by Shepard's powers. Harmlessly, they clattered to the floor. In what could only be described as glee a whisper emerged from the darkness, "My turn."

Shepard charged one of them, effortlessly wielding a monomolecular blade to decapitate him. The gunfire returned, interrupted by a command, "Retreat!"

The troopers dove out of the windows, jetpacks decelerating their fall. Shepard turned his eyes to the beeping device in the center of the room. The explosive. Instantaneously his arms shot out to his sides and a shield appeared around the device, leaving it to detonate in a biotic bubble. Shepard turned his attention out the window and, seeing the armored men below boarding a shuttle he flicked his wrist-the already damaged shuttle had no shields. He lifted it up and began to increase its ascent before bringing it crashing back down with an impossible speed, leaving it and everybody inside nothing but charred remains.

He turned his attention to Thane, who was now kneeling over the corpse of the asari girl. Shepard waited for him to finish his prayer and then helped him up, "What's happening Thane?"

"You've been unconscious for a five weeks and Cerberus is attacking the Citadel."

"Five weeks is certainly better than two years. Where do we go?"

"There was an emergency broadcast coming from C-Sec headquarters a few minutes ago, it's gone now. We might as well go-"

They were interrupted by the ding of the elevator arriving at that floor. Shepard aimed his arm at the elevator doors, preparing to unleash a blast from his wrist-mounted flamer. He immediately lowered his arm upon seeing his favorite asari standing there with her pistol out.

"John! You're-you're awake?" She looked behind him to see the massacre that had occurred, "And you haven't lost your touch." She noticed the dead asari, "Did they...?"

"They did. They're merciless. We're headed to C-Sec HQ, let's go."

Liara saw Thane tending to the cowering civilians and nodded, "We can take a car from the garage."

* * *

Ashley took point, grabbing her rifle and scanning the room they were entering. "All clear." The three councilors-Valern was absent for some reason-quickly followed her. They were out of the tight hallways and out on an open platform again. Ashley ran up to the terminal and locked the door as it closed behind them.

She exhaled deeply and ran a hand through her hair. Shepard. If Cerberus was here they would be after him. She could only pray that the drell or Liara was protecting him.

She sighed and leaned back against the railing for a second, then exhaled and nodded, "Let's go."

* * *

Shepard, Liara and Thane all piled out of the civilian vehicle. Liara angrily exclaimed, "Because it's a CIVILIAN vehicle John, THAT is why it doesn't have missiles!"

"I don't understand civilian life."

"No you do not."

They examined the scene before them. C-Sec headquarters were completely ransacked. Corpses lay everywhere, most of them with stab wounds or their throats slit. Shepard knelt down by a body sprawled across the floor, "The hell happened here?"

Thane examined one of them, "Highly trained assassins-not the average Cerberus grunt."

Liara grimaced, "This is barbaric."

Shepard scoffed, "This is nothing. Remember when my eyes used to be green? The wounds are abnormal though."

Thane nodded, "It's as if assassins managed to enter undetected and-"

His head rose, "Oh."

Shepard closed his eyes for a minute, "They were indoctrinated. And Cerberus shot them after they slit the throats of their peers. Let's check Chellick's office and see what we can find."

* * *

Miranda took a deep breath, preparing for the gravity of the conflict she was about to enter. She checked her pistol, her omni-tool, and her biotics. She was in the refugee camp set up inthe lower levels of the Citadel. It allowed her to pass through undetected as she avoided Cerberus forces. That ship had sailed however, and there were a couple dozen Cerberus troopers rounding people up for executions. No one had died yet, but any minute now... If she had learned only one thing from Shepard it was that she had an obligation to help them.

She burst out of cover and began a multi-faceted assault, biotics whipping a few of them about, incineration bolts from her omni-tool flying into a few others, and her bullets putting one or two down. Most of them were down but only three were dead, and the remaining ones were getting back up. Miranda dove for cover, barely making it as a bullet pierced her shields and flew through her leg.

"Bloody hell..." She took a deep breath. She probably wouldn't make it this time, but the refugees had scattered when she attacked, so at least that was something.

She inhaled and exhaled a few times. She had a few seconds before they would be able to flank her. She took her last medi-gel and used the foam to spray over the wound. It bound to the flesh and filled the injury, uncomfortable but now she could stand. One last deep breath. She burst out of cover and began firing, unleashing everything she could.

As the returning fire ripped through her shields she closed her eyes and waited for one of the stray bullets to deliver the killing blow. Oriana would have to get along without her. She never got to apologize to Shepard-

A shot emanated from one of the weapons in front of her, but she was still standing. Her eyes shot open to see one of them on all fours, one hand gripping his chest. "Oh jeez-I'm sorry, I'm not a good shot I just-er..." A bullet ripped through his head and the trooper collapsed to the floor. Kelly Chambers grimaced, "Ew..."

Miranda's face contorted in confusion and shock, "Kelly? How did you just... what the bloody hell just happened!?"

Kelly shrugged and reloaded her pistol, "I did work for Cerberus you know. There was some basic weapons training. When Shepard dropped me off here I died my hair blonde, changed my name to Felicia Hannigan, and... well here I am helping the refugees."

"You survived the assault all by yourself?"

"Well not by myself. Guys, it's clear!"

A blonde man and a dark haired girl stepped out from behind a few crates, both of them using simple pistols. It was all civilians could have here-but those exact civilians...

"Hi! I'm Conrad Verner, we've met before actually. I'm a friend of Shepard's?" The woman rolled her eyes, "Hi. I'm Jenna. I've kind of also met the Commander. I just don't brag about it constantly..."

Conrad laughed slightly and kissed Jenna quickly, "Anyway, we're securing the refugee camp. Most of the people here have weapons and we jury-rigged a few shield generators."

Kelly nodded, "Miranda, you're better at this than us, tell me you have a plan."

"Yeah... Yeah I might have something."

* * *

Shepard warily approached the door to Chellick's office and opened it, immediately aiming his shotgun inside, Liara and Thane imitating him.

Very few things could've made him happier than what was in the office. Cynthia, EDI, and James were all searching the office.

Cynthia glanced up from the terminal she was checking, her eyes widening, "Holy shit. You're awake."

He grinned, "Who are you talking to? Damn right I'm awake. We need to disable the jamming signals and activate Citadel-wide communications and I assume there's a damn good reason for why that thing is standing next to you."

Cynthia glanced at EDI, "Long story, funny story, but it's EDI."

The android awkwardly smiled, "Hello, Shepard."

He raised an eyebrow, "So many questions, but now is not the time. Is Chellick-"

James glanced at the corpse in the corner, blue blood staining his chest, gunshot wounds apparant. Shepard walked over and knelt next to the turian executor. "Jesus... Declan was-"

Liara interrupted, "Declan? His name was Decian."

Shepard and Cynthia glanced at each other. Cynthia murmured, "That's why he hated being called Declan..."

Shepard sucked his teeth, "Wow. That is... Still he did damn good work. This is unforgivable."

Cynthia finished typing at the terminal, "Jamming systems are down. Communications are up. Care to say something John?"

Shepard left Chellick's corpse and walked over to the terminal, tapping at it a few times and contemplating his words. He opened the channel and took a deep breath.

* * *

Miranda, Kelly, Conrad and Jenna all stood, their hands above their heads as the nearly four dozen Cerberus troops before them aimed their weapons at them. One of them muttered, "Do we take them alive? That's Operative Lawson."

A moment of silence passed before an answer came from one in the front. "No, Operative Leng wants her terminated. Open fire."

Miranda was no Shepard, she hadn't exactly led them to victory.

The leader suddenly collapsed and bullets began flying-none of them originating from the Cerberus team. Miranda and her associates took the opportunity to run for cover. The former Cerberus operative glanced out from cover to see the entirety of their opposition lying dead on the floor. A familiar guttural growl came out, "Get out here you goddamn cheerleader."

She practically leapt out of cover, "Zaeed? Okay this really is my lucky day."

The mercenary grinned, at least two dozen people in various uniforms-Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack, even a few Talons-stood behind him, all heavily armed. Zaeed nodded at Kelly and Conrad, "Chambers, it's good to see you again. And aren't you that whiney little bitch from Illium?"

Miranda motioned for Conrad to still his tongue, "Who are the mercs? Friends of yours?"

Zaeed put his assault rifle on his back and popped his knuckles, "We're under attack. I rounded up a few people who I had influence with. And I may have sprung open the Citadel's jails and prisons. We need all the help we can get. Aria is leading the fight from Purgatory, C-Sec is kicking ass in the Presidium."

Miranda nodded slowly, "We need to get to-"

Suddenly the channels opened up-Cerberus had blocked all communications but their own. The welcome face of their leader appeared on everyone's omni-tool followed by his voice. He looked awful, but in his own way still... strong. A powerful voice began to echo on every screen, omni-tool, and intercom in the Citadel.

"This is Commander-" Shepard glanced off screen and corrected himself, "Spectre John Shepard. We're under attack. Every able-bodied person, get your hands on a weapon and fight back. Cerberus thinks they've won today. They think we're weak. Prove them wrong. Planets are falling one by one, but I promise you one thing. The Citadel is not falling today."

They lost the feed and glanced at each other. Miranda nodded, "You heard the man. Let's do this."

* * *

Shepard and his five compatriots walked back to the heart of C-Sec headquarters. They needed to find the Council. As they walked into the room, they saw the salarian Councilor-Valern, decloaking and glancing around the room. As he and Shepard locked eyes he breathed a sigh of relief and began walking towards the Spectre, "Commander Shepard I am so glad to see you. I-"

A man dropped in between the Councilor and Shepard, his palm glowing as he prepared to strike down the Councilor with some kind of projectile. The entirety of Shepard's forces aimed their weapons and Shepard called out, "Try it and I'll turn you into a fine red mist."

Valern's hastened breathing slowed slightly, "Shepard it's Udina. He's staging a coup-he's with the other councilors and he's going to hand them over to Cerberus."

The man tensed up, circling around the Councilor to face Shepard. Metallic visors either replaced or were over his eyes, a Cerberus logo emblazoned on his armor. "Hello, Commander."

Recognition flared in Shepard's eyes, "You... you son of a bitch!"

A grin spread across the man's face, "You remember me. I was the one who captured you. You can thank me for the imrpovements they gave you later, once we've killed all of your little friends."

"We?"

A second figure materialized, shimmering as his cloak deactivated. This one was in a recolored version of N7 Paladin armor, the N7 logos replaced with those of Cerberus, brandishing an omni-shield. A voice came from the man before them, "Hey Shepard. Long time no see."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, the voice was so familiar but he couldn't place it... "Sorry, you I don't remember. But I've got enough bullets for the both of you."

Shepard's and his five allies stood firm against the two Cerberus operatives, "Do the math. Six to two, and that's not counting the fact that after what you fuckers did to me I might just be able to level the whole damn floor."

Kai Leng chuckled, "You're amusing Shepard, I'll give you that. But it's time." As Kai Leng fired his weapon he convulsed, causing his bullet to miss the Councilor as he keeled over. Shepard immediately used his biotics to charge in front of the Councilor, absorbing the other Cerberus agent's rifle fire. Standing behind Kai Leng stood Shepard's favorite thief, her omni-tool still coursing with electricity after she shocked Kai Leng. She grinned and managed to say, "You're welcome Shep" before all hell broke loose. As gunfire began to fill the room she grabbed the salarian Councilor and guided him, both of them running from the room as everyone else dove for cover.

The remaining eight fighters sporadically fired off volleys of bullets. Once Kasumi was out of the room however, Shepard charged Kai-Leng, tackling him to the floor. The other five of Shepard's comrades leapt out of cover to open fire on the mystery man-unable to properly target Kai Leng as he and Shepard rolled around on the floor in a brutal melee. The 'paladin' raised his kinetic barriers and shields, opening fire on them with bullets, biotics, and barrages of technological force-incinerations and cryo blasts streaming through the air. As the collective gunfire of five people forced their way through his defenses he ducked back behind cover.

Finally Shepard disengaged from Kai Leng, being thrown back against a wall and defending himself from decapitation with his own sword. Thane took the opportunity, charging Kai Leng as he fired off his pistol. The Cerberus and drell assassins dueled, each dancing around the other while Kai Leng still managed to fend off an assault from Shepard.

As the fight played out both sides took damage, culminating as both Kai Leng and Thane crumbled to the ground. The paladin grumbled and lifted his arm, dragging Kai Leng up and forcing them to run, both of their shields depleted-taking bullets that pierced their armor and ripped their skin.

Shepard and his crew gathered around Thane briefly, Shepard rolled the drell over and examined him. The drell hoarsely croaked, "I've time still. Do not let him escape."

"I've got him, go!" Armando Bailey strode in and ran next to the drell with a few C-Sec officers besides him.

Shepard and his crew glanced at Bailey and nodded before charging off after the Cerberus assassins.

* * *

Miranda stood before the gathered forces of the Citadel. Mercenaries, criminals, C-Sec and refugees of every race. "They've invaded our home, but they haven't captured it. No matter how many people we lose, we will keep fighting. We will fight them in the wards, we will fight them in the presidium, we will fight them to the last man and the last bullet! Cerberus will not take the Citadel!"

Cheers of approval rang out from the crowd as they dispersed, storming off to different parts of the station. She wasn't as good at these speeches as her former Commander, but they were rallied and the Citadel was hours away from being retaken. She could only hope Shepard was faring alright.

* * *

Shepard and his remaining four followers chased Kai Leng and the paladin into an elevator. As they ripped open the doors and escaped down the elevator shaft Shepard followed them, the others being forced to wait-taking the adjacent elevator instead. Shepard and the two Cerberus assassins went into a free fall, biotically slowing their descent as they crashed onto a rising elevator.

The elevator filled with his allies plummeted down next to them, righting its velocity as it caught up. The top blew off and EDI climbed out, firing on Kai Leng. The Asian assassin fell backwards, taking the opportunity to leap into a keeper tunnel as they fell past it. Only the paladin remained, following Kai Leng's lead and jumping into a keeper tunnel-out of reach as Shepard and his crew barreled down the elevator shaft.

Shepard took a sigh of relief-immediately interrupted as a bullet lodged itself in him. He reached a hand to his chest. Both elevators stopped and he endured a few more shots. Realizing the origin of the attacks, he ripped open the elevator top to see Ashley sprinting away. Shepard jumped down the elevator hatch, meeting up with the rest of his squad as they exited the neighboring elevator.

They walked towards the door Ashley had run through, Liara closing it as they walked through. Ashley aimed her pistol at Shepard and his approaching squad, defending the Councilors behind her. "Shepard what the hell is going on here?"

Shepard's squad unholstered their weapons and held them by their sides, each one prepared for a conflict. Shepard, however, clutched his side and deeply intoned, "You... shot... me..."

Ashley recoiled slightly, "You were on top of-Shepard I'm trying to understand here, but there's a Cerberus android on your left and you were chasing us down. Help me understand. Everybody put down your weapons and we can figure out what the hell is going on." Noticing his pained stance, she added "Someone get him some damn medi-gel. "

Shepard held out his hand, accepting the medi-gel Liara placed into it. He stuck the canister's nozzle in the small holes in his armor and dispensed the fluid to alleviate the intensity of his wounds. "Ash, Cerberus assassins went after Councilor Valern. We got him to safety, but they retreated, escaped down an elevator shaft, and we chased them here. Valern said that Udina is behind this, he's working with Cerberus!"

There were exchanged glances between the Councilors. The asari-Tevos, looked at Sparatus and they both moved away from Udina. Tevos looked at Ashley, "Our lack of faith in Shepard before has hurt us badly before. Stand down Lieutenant Commander."

Ashley flexed her grip on her pistol. Tevos was right. She had been wrong about Shepard before. She turned around to see Udina backed up against a wall, raising her pistol at him. "Councilor I need you to put your hands up."

Udina's stare switched from his fellow Councilors to Ashley, to Shepard, and back again, "No, you can't... You..."

Shepard bore down on Udina and grabbed him by his collar, "**Why**!? So many people have died here, and for **what**!? Tell me!"

Ashley frowned at seeing Shepard's anger play out before her, but held her tongue.

"I..." Udina's demeanor broke and his despair became apparent, "Because they'll let us all die before they send help! If I was the only Councilor I could-I could-the Citadel fleet would be able to retake Earth! We'll be extinct before they lift a finger!"

The luminescence of Shepard's crimson eyes dimmed slightly, his rage fading, only to rapidly return. "This is how you help? THIS!? I swear to god I will-"

A gunship rose from behind Udina and the paladin's voice rang out, "Hey, it's better than him being an obstructive bureaucrat. Too bad you're all gonna die."

The gunship began a barrage on them. Shepard shot out a massive kinetic barrier, shielding them all from the gunfire. Ashley and Liara grabbed Councilors Tevos and Sparatus and pulled them to cover as Shepard's barriers faded. As Shepard's powers began to wane at the immense quantity of firepower being leveled at him, the barriers fell. Udina tackled him to the ground, taking half a dozen bullets until the gunship finally ran out.

Udina rolled off Shepard and coughed a small amount of blood. "Don't... don't let them forget Earth. I'm sorry..." Udina's eyes dimmed and his chest ceased its natural rise and fall. Shepard stood up, gaining a second wind. He and the rest of his squad opened fire on the gunship, ripping through its armor with their high-tech weaponry.

The gunship began to malfunction, and the cockpit opened. The paladin unstrapped himself from the cockpit and ran out on to the nose of the gunship, leaping onto the platform, meeting the aim of six veteran killers. Shepard snarled at him, "Before I leave your body an unidentifiable mess, tell me who you are."

The paladin began a menacing snicker, "You're so fucking dense. Enough implants in your head to put your IQ north of 160 and you can't figure it out. Maybe you should fucking **think**! A bit of contemplation. God knows if you did more of that then I might not be here."

"Get to the damn point before I use an explosive to vaporize you."

The paladin put both hands on his head and lifted his helmet off. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Everyone but EDI, whose nerves couldn't be rattled, let their weapons fall to their sides. Ashley whispered one word. "Kaidan."

"No! I am Kaidan's evil twin, Nadiak!... I'm fucking with you, I'm a clone. Like your friend over there, only I'm a superior version instead of a pale imitation. And with four minutes and thirty-two seconds, my ride is here. Oh and Shepard?" All pretense of affability vanished from his face, "Next time I'll kill you."

Kaidan turned and jumped off the ledge, catching several dozen bullets from Shepard's crew in the process. A few seconds later a X3M car rose up with Kai Leng and Kaidan inside. Kai Leng yelled out, "He's got maybe four months before he's indoctrinated. Food for thought." Then they jetted off, with Shepard too weak to biotically damage the car.

Shepard fell to the ground and coughed up a few milliliters of blood, chuckling all the while "Hell of a day..."

* * *

Took me long enough, but there it is.


	5. Reparations

Garrus is returning very soon, probably next chapter. And Tali will follow. HOW? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? HOW WILL THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS CHANGE? I have no damn idea but I'll figure it out.

* * *

Shepard stood in Huerta Memorial Hospital, pacing. He reached to open the door and his hand recoiled. _"This is stupid, I have to be there!"_ He reached for the door controls again but at the last moment his hand, almost of its own volition, stopped moving and fell limply to his side. He took a deep breath and tapped once on the door, opening it, and walked through. Thane lay in bed, his hands clasped over his wound and his eyes closed. Kolyat stood besides him, holding a thick book. _  
_

Shepard nodded at Kolyat and moved next to him, "Hey... Hey Thane."

Thane had a rebreather over his mouth, so instead he weakly lifted his arm as a greeting. Shepard tried to speak, tried to console Thane, but instead simply murmured, "Conserve your energy..." Kolyat greeted him, "Commander Shepard. My father told me you were no longer incarcerated. Perhaps you remember me? I came to donate blood and... well... he asked me to wait until you arrived and then..." Kolyat slid his hand over Thane's oxygen mask and gingerly removed it. "It won't be very long now."

Shepard nodded, "Your father and I... I'd like to be here."

Kolyat let a faint smile cross his lips, "He was waiting for you. Of course you may stay."

Thane's exasperated breaths finally culminated in a sentence, "Shepard... I'm afraid... I'm afraid I won't be joining you this time."

"You've done more than enough."

Thane's chest began to heave slightly as a few breathless laughs escaped his lips, "Those assassins should be embarassed. A terminally ill drell posed a threat to that 'Kai Leng'."

Shepard let a grim smile come across his face, "I'll pass the message along."

"There... there is something I must... I must... before it gets worse..."

Thane's words were interrupted by bouts of coughing fits, but finally he stabilized, "Kalahira, mistress of inscrutible depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and... and... sand..." The coughing fits overpowered him, one of his hands covering his mouth.

Kolyat took over immediately, clasping his hands together and lowering his head, "Kalahira, wash the sins from this one and set him on the distant shore of the infinite spirit."

Thane let approval wash over his features, "Kolyat... you speak as the priests do... I... I am so very proud of you."

Kolyat opened the book and leaned over towards Shepard, "Commander, would you pray with me?"

Shepard nodded, the both of them speaking in unison, "Kalahira, this one's heart is pure, but beset by wickedness and contention. Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starves. Guide this one Kalahira, and he will be a companion to you as he was to me."

Thane smiled, staring at the ceiling above. Shepard kneeled besides the drell's bed, "I... I don't understand. You're a hero, why must you pray for forgiveness?"

Thane's hand lifted from the bed to Shepard's shoulder, "I... have already... prayed for forgiveness... this... was for you..."

Shepard held Thane's hand in his own as it fell to the side of his bed. Tears began to coalesce in his eyes and slowly trickle down his face, "I'm sorry... I pulled you into a fight you never should've been in... I... I got you killed!"

"I... was proud to serve... with you one last time... You will find your peace Shepard... but you must strive for it... and you must find... your Siha... I... hope you can quell the pain inside you... You were always a friend to me... Goodbye..." Thane turned his head to look out through the window, seeing for the last time the beauty of the world he was leaving. Shepard felt his pulse through his wrist. It was growing weaker by the second. He lifted Thane's arm and put it on his chest, glancing at the monitor to see Thane's heart stop beating. His lidded eyes closed and a faint whisper could be heard, "I am coming, Irikah."

Shepard's mouth was agape, tears across his face and a trembling body. "I... I... Thank you Thane. And thank you Kolyat. I... is everything-"

Kolyat put his hand on Shepard's soldier, "Everything is taken care of, Commander. He will be taken to Kahje and his body will be placed in the Eternal Sea. It is a body of water, reserved for the burials of the hanar and drell. He will be united with my mother in the oceans of the planet where he was born."

Shepard nodded and wiped his eyes, "I... Thank you. If you need help with anything just... just let me know."

Kolyat nodded and Shepard left the room.

* * *

"Shepard I need to talk to you."

Shepard leaned over the railing at Docking Bay D24, peering past the Normandy at the Citadel's majestic visage. "Miranda."

"Look, Shepard I-"

"You want to apologize. For everything they did. Because it was based off your ideas, your research." Shepard slowly turned around, crimson scars and cold, mechanical, maroon eyes both glowing. "I'm sorry Shepard. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I'm sorry for everything."

Shepard looked Miranda up and down, "I'll forgive you. But-" Miranda averted her gaze from his face, "LOOK AT ME!" Miranda's eyes immediately returned to her commander, the rage on his face quickly fading back into affability. "Miranda, what happened to me because of your work... You can't even stand to look at me. I will never be normal, truly human, again. But..." Shepard walked up to Miranda and held her hands, "Miranda, you gave me a second chance at life. And despite the... complications, I wouldn't have been able to stop the Collectors, to help my friends. Miranda, you gave me my life back. And I can never repay you for that. Every night I wonder about what happened to me. I've had time to ruminate on this and I can say wholeheartedly that it is not your fault."

Miranda bowed her head, her eyes locked on to Shepard's. "Thank you. I know that could't have been easy for you."

Shepard nodded, the anger he had displayed before replaced with warmth, "You defected from Cerberus a long time ago, and you have tried every day to make it up to me. You've made mistakes, but you are not your father."

He let go of her hands and returned to leaning on the railing, "Is that all?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Hmm... How is Oriana?"

"She's doing well. I haven't had a chance to speak with her for a while but with the blow we dealt to Cerberus today I think I might have gotten some breathing room."

Shepard remained silent for a few seconds, "I'm sorry I snapped."

"Heh, well it's good to know that you can still intimidate with the best of them."

* * *

Shepard hadn't budged from his post in Docking Bay D24 for about an hour now. He could hear boots clacking against the metal floor, "I've held a friend's hand as he died and had a conversation with the woman whose research made me like this. Can we just... get a drink, Ash?"

"Yeah actually that does sound pretty good right now. Let's go."

* * *

Shepard stared at the swirling glass of emerald fluid in front of him. Ash glanced at it while nursing her scotch, "Why the hell did you order that shit?"

Shepard grimaced and gulped it down, "Increased liver functionality. Takes me like, a gallon of ryncol to get buzzed now. Too bad, because it tastes like vorcha shit."

"Skipper I-"

He turned to her and for the first time since he had woken up a genuine smile, not crippled by sorrow or guilt or anger, came across him. "Did you just call me Skipper?"

She laughed and turned back to her drink, "I guess I did. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah it has. What the hell is up with your hair?"

She ran a hand through her thick ebony hair, "Needed something to distract from the face bruises when I woke up. All some people could look at."

He scoffed, "I liked it before. Now you look like some kind of femme fatale Spectre, not the dedicated gunnery chief I knew. And how the hell did you switch over two shades of skin color?"

"I **am** a Spectre now and I uh... well I mean I spent like a month in fluorescent lighting. I'm just pale."

"Most people don't get so pale they switch to Caucasian from... what the hell are you?"

"Not too sure, but my mom's last name was Martinez. Guess I'm only going to be getting paler."

This piqued Shepard's attention. He downed his fifth glass of ryncol and turned to her, "What do you mean?"

Ashley swirled her glass of scotch nervously, "I... I mean, I'm becoming a Spectre and it's not exactly like you and I can..."

"Can what?"

"Shepard I doubted you and questioned you and fought with you and... Shepard I **shot** you!"

"Oh come on, you've done worse before and we were still friends."

"Like what?"

"... Remember that time you accidentally mixed up your scotch with that turian brandy Garrus was keeping in the fridge?"

"Oh god..."

"You tried to kiss me, almost shot Wrex, and then you puked on Tali's visor. And we were friends after that."

"Yeah but Tali gave me dirty looks for a while."

"Well you did try to kiss me."

Ashley craned her head to stare at Shepard, "You know, if you had gotten together with her **before** the Normandy blew up, I would've made a thousand credits. Everybody lost that bet. Your moves are shit."

"Who won?"

"Wrex. The big softy said you'd need a serious blow to the head to try anything. I suppose neural reconstruction counts."

Shepard chuckled, "Grumpy old bastard... Ash I need you."

"Have you seen yourself in a mirror? I'm not nearly drunk enough yet."

Shepard burst out laughing, "Don't like red?"

"Not particularly. Shepard, I let you down. I didn't trust you on Horizon, I didn't trust you on Mars, I didn't-"

"Do you trust me now?"

She stared at his eyes, "I do."

"That's all that matters. Please."

She nodded, "Okay. I'll come back to the Normandy Shepard."

"Thank you... So I saw you looking at James-"

"Fuck you sir."

"I don't think I outrank you anymore."

"Fuck you, Shepard."

* * *

Shepard met Cynthia on the Presidium, at her favorite sushi place. "Look, Cynthia I just wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings with me resuming command of the-"

"Oh my god, shut **up**! It's fine!"

"Are you sure?"

She rolled her eyes and put down her chopsticks, leaning her head over the table, "See my hair?"

"Yeah?"

"Half of it is dyed black. I'm in my thirties and I'm going gray. Garrus might not know the difference but this is a bit much. I swear I don't know how you do this."

"Yeah, well I guess we all..." Shepard jabbed at his sushi with his chopsticks, forcing a few pieces of fish onto the floor. Annoyed, he grabbed a piece with his fingers.

Cynthia chuckled, "Some of us are good at leading galaxies, some of us can use chopsticks. And some of us are paying."

He raised an eyebrow, "The some of us who have thick, lustrous hair or the some of us who are going gray-OW!" He recoiled after Cynthia jabbed a chop stick at the bridge of his nose, "Not a damn word, John."

* * *

His business on the Citadel was dealt with-apparently Zaeed was around but neither he nor Kasumi had responded to his attempts at contact, so he could only assume they were busy. Or busy stealing and/or murdering people.

Shepard and his newly assembled crew stood before the Normandy. A few retrofits had been added, and Cynthia had taken this as a good enough reason to make an addition of her own.

The Normandy SR-3. Councilor Sparatus had given them a new directive. They were going to Menae.

* * *

So that's the end of the chapter and-WAIT WHAT'S THIS

* * *

"Commander Shepard!" The woman stumbled, running towards the commander as he boarded his ship. He turned to see her and raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Emily? Emily Wong, right?"

She caught up to him and bent over, panting as she caught her breath, "Yeah... yeah I... yeah..." She took a deep breath and stood up, "I... whew. Okay. I thought I was gonna miss you."

"What is it? Do you want an interview or something?"

"No, I want to come aboard the Normandy. I'm working for the Alliance News Network now, and they want someone aboard the Normandy to report on you, you know-rally the troops through media and all. Admiral Mikhailovich said he thought it was a good idea to raise support for Earth. I have a datapad with his reccomendation but I can't seem to find... where did I-"

Shepard chuckled, "Mikhailovich, huh? Alright. Welcome aboard Ms. Wong.

* * *

So it's a post-script. Yeaaaaah. Getting all fancy up in here. Diana Allers was a terrible example of marketing, being based off Jessica Chobot was her only personality trait.


	6. The Arbiter

I'm honestly surprised how many people asked for the return of Garrus and Cynthia. Really I was concerned I didn't write that couple well enough. But at last, here it is.

* * *

Cynthia waited patiently in the Kodiak shuttle, her mind occupied by the dazzling possibilities of what she might be able to learn. Well, the dazzling possibilities being one of two things-Garrus had survived a full out Reaper assault on Palaven and was leading a resistance, being hailed as a hero amongst the Hierarchy or... well, the other was one she found herself concerned with multiple times in the past few days. She had lost contact with Garrus last week.

She felt her hand idly brush against the metal of the eyepiece Garrus had given her when he left the Normandy for Palaven. Engraved in it were the names of his eleven squadmates from Omega-with Sidonis' scratched out-Shepard's full name on the side, and her own name carefully and painstakingly engraved next to Shepard's. There wasn't a centimeter of unoccupied space on it, all filled with memories of the dead and beloved.

The shuttle doors opened and a voice came over the intercom. There were husks running alongside the jagged terrain of Menae. Shepard prepared to grab control of the turret, but Cynthia patted him on the shoulder, "I got this."

She booted up the holographic projectile accuracy assistance program in Garrus' eyepiece and put her hands on the side of the turret. She took a deep breath and began to fire. Each bullet pierced the skull of one of the humanoid abominations. Shepard's assistance with his assault rifle wiped up the few enemies she didn't get to as the turret overheated. All six of them-Shepard, Cynthia, EDI, Liara, James, and Ashley-stepped onto the surface of Menae. Shepard banged his gauntlet on the shuttle and Cortez took off.

All of them had helmets on and were armed to the teeth with enough weaponry to down an army of husks. However, the confidence this inspired vanished quickly as they all took notice of a jagged orange scar across the face of Palaven.

Shepard murmured, "Jesus..." Ashley bowed her head and Cynthia preferred to ignore the implications of what she was seeing. Liara took the chance to explain to James, "We have a friend there."

Shepard nodded and they began to march forward to the outpost ahead of them. As they entered the camp an 'atmosphere' materialized and they all took off their helmets. Shepard looked around, finding the turian commanding others about while he was bent over a terminal.

Shepard walked over and nodded, "I need Primarch Fedorian."

The turian, clearly appreciating Shepard's curtness, glanced at him and returned to the console, "Shepard. I'm General Corinthus. Fedorian's dead."

Liara interjected, "The turian Hierarchy has clear lines of succession, who is next in command?"

Corinthus sighed, "Normally the lines of succession **are **clear but now... Jesus, at this rate Vakarian is gonna be the next primarch."

Cynthia stepped forward at that, "Garrus, Solana, or Acaril?"

"Garrus."

Shepard smirked, "Where is the turian sonuvabitch?"

Corinthus ignored Shepard's phrasing, "I don't know. The comms are down. Think you can handle it? The zone is overrun with enemies." Shepard pulled out his assault rifle. "Point me in the right direction.

* * *

Shepard and his squad returned to Corinthus victorious, their task easily accomplished. Shepard nodded at Corinthus on approach, "Who is the next Primarch and where is Garrus Vakarian?"

"Your man is General Adrien Victus. Tough military man, plays fast and loose with the rules. I'll send you his coordinates, but the path is filled with Reaper ground forces, you might need backup. And as for Vakarian-"

"I can take them to Victus."

Cynthia felt an unstoppable grin appear on her face. She turned around to see a turian in silver armor with blue trim. "Take off that helmet."

"Why? What are you gonna do to me?"

"So many things."

"Well I-"

"Take the damn helmet off."

"Right!" The turian lifted his hands to his head, the helmet coming off and at long last, for the first time in over a year, they saw Garrus Vakarian. Clearly he had been slacking off on his burn ointments and other remedies-his scars, while smaller, were prominent. Cynthia threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a deep kiss."

Garrus pulled back from the kiss and put his forehead to hers, "I missed you. The eyepiece looks good on you."

She noticed an absence on his face, "And the lack of an eyepiece on you looks weird. You never took it off. Not even when we-"

"Whoa! You can do that later! Or never!" Shepard interrupted.

James cocked his head and just stared at the interspecies duo, "She just... kissed him... Dude has mandibles! How the hell..."

Cynthia, her arms still wrapped around Garrus' neck, turned to look at him, "Wouldn't you like to know. Garrus, you can lead us to Victus?"

"I can. Good to see you guys."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, "The fuck happened to your face?"

* * *

The now seven trained professionals stormed down the path to Victus. Shepard grunted as he pulled himself up a rock ledge, "So I need the turians, among others, for a summit."

Garrus looked up at Palaven, "Is it like this on Earth?"

"Worse."

"Spirits... You see that large orange scar, the big one? I was born there. Last I heard Solana and my father were still there."

Cynthia cast a glance at the ground, looking at Shepard for a moment. Their mother had-last they heard-been promoted to Rear Admiral, but other than that several months ago, they had no news.

Garrus shot a worried look at Liara, then asked Shepard, "Where's Tali?"

"No idea."

"Does she know you're... you know."

"Dying? No she does not."

Ashley and James halted at this. Shepard stopped and sighed, "I forgot to mention that, didn't I? I'll explain later, come on."

The team finally approached Victus' encampment. Seeing a turian soldier gripped by one of the monsters that had been identified as a brute, Shepard whipped out his monomolecular blades, "Check this out Garrus." The turian witnessed as Shepard biotically flung himself into the brute, severing the turian head from the body with one sword and using another to slice through the arm about to crush a turian soldier to death.

Under his breath Garrus whispered, "Damn show off."

Cynthia shrugged, "You get used to it pretty quick."

The remaining six Normandy members charged the encampment, ripping through the shielding and subsequently the synthetic flesh of the mutated abominations before them-husks, marauders, cannibals and brutes alike fell to the approaching onslaught of firepower. Shepard whirled from one enemy to the other, decapitating and blasting them apart in a single graceful, fluid movement.

As the last brute fell, a red-armored turian stepped down from one of the fortifications, "I've got to hand it to you Vakarian, I tell you to get a brute off my men and you bring me Commander Shepard."

Garrus smirked, "Thought it might be convenient to let him come along."

Shepard rolled his eyes, "**Let** me? Great."

Victus turned his attention to the human, "What brings you to Palaven Shepard?"

"I'm putting together a summit. We need to unify if we're going to stop the Reapers, and we need cooperation to do that. Fedorian is dead, and you're the new Primarch."

Victus staggered backwards as if he'd been struck by Shepard's words, "Me the Primarch... Negotiating on behalf of the turian Hierarchy... But I can't just leave my men here to-"

"The battle is won on the field, but if nothing changes you being here won't help. Trust me, I know how much it hurts to hear this, but you're more useful to your people in a boardroom than fighting besides them. That's the only way this-" Shepard gestured to the area around them, Reaper troop forces around them as Reaper Harvesters soared through the air, "-can end. Your people need you."

Victus cast a downward glance, "... Alright. Vakarian, I presume you're accompanying us?"

"Couldn't stop me if you wanted to."

"I'm quite certain of that. Shepard, get a shuttle over here and let's go."

* * *

Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose, this was ridiculous. Wrex, Victus, and Dalatrass Linron were just arguing fruitlessly. He let go and slammed his fist on the table, "ENOUGH! Victus, you need relief on Palaven. Wrex, what will it take to make this happen?"

Wrex stared down Shepard, "I'll tell you what I need Shepard. A cure. For the genophage."

_"Shit. He might as well have said he needs a vorcha pacifist."_

Linron reeled backwards, "Abso-**lutely** **OUT** of the question! Without limits, your people-"

Shepard stared her down until she froze and stopped talking. "Thank you. Now, Dalatrass, I have a question for you. Has Sur'Kesh been hit by the Reapers yet?"

"Well no but-"

"Salarian military strategy DOESN'T WORK on Reapers! There is no intelligence to gather, no way to play them against each other. If you don't support this then you will find yourself isolated as the Reapers bear down on your planet. With the turians and krogan on your side however, you might just have a fighting chance."

Victus shook his head, "It's a moot point, it would take years to synthesize a cure to the genophage."

Wrex grinned, "A month."

This caught the attention and forced the silence of everyone in the room. "There are fertile krogan females on Sur'Kesh, survivors of experiments by a salarian named Maelon. One who grew a conscience."

Shepard frowned and interjected, "His methods were barbaric. You **know** there are fertile females on Sur'Kesh?"

"I do. At an STG base located-" A holographic map of Sur'Kesh appeared from the table and rotated, "-here."

The Dalatrass looked shocked, "Where did you get this information!?"

"I have my sources."

"You are not-"

Shepard glared at the Dalatrass, "If curing the genophage is what we have to do for the support of the krogan, then that is what we will do. We don't have a choice, Dalatrass. You don't have a choice."

The Dalatrass returned his glare and tapped the holographic globe, "I will authorize it now." As the trio of Wrex, Shepard, and Victus left for the war room she yelled after them, "A bully has few friends when he truly needs them Commander!"

He turned and quipped, "Wouldn't you know."

* * *

Garrus held Cynthia in his arms in the main battery, "It's good to be home."

She looked up at him, "It wasn't home without you."

He looked around the battery, "Where's the cot we had installed in here?"

Cynthia walked to the back of the battery room, "They moved it. I managed to convince them it was a necessity so someone could keep track of and maintain the weapons systems." She pulled out a cot from the wall. "Care to join me?"

* * *

Shepard sat patiently at his desk. Finally his door opened, Liara T'Soni walking in. "Liara. I need to talk to you."

Liara shrugged, "Well you invited me up here, I figured it wasn't to show me your models. Speaking of which, where they?"

"I have no idea, for some reason they're scattered around the ship." Shepard stood up and looked Liara up and down. He walked past her and took a deep breath, "Do you remember what Benezia said when we met here on Noveria? About indoctrinration?"

Liara felt a chill up her spine at the subject, "... His teeth are on my ears-his fingers on my spine... I... Why are you bringing this up Shepard?"

He began to pace back and forth in front of his bed, "What I'm about to ask you... You're not going to like it, but I need you to listen to me. And I need you to do it."

Liara bit her lower lip and nodded, "What?"

Shepard sat down on the end of his bed, "I... The Reapers are... I can feel them. I can feel their influence worming its way into my mind. I don't know what thoughts are mine and what I just think are mine. Every time I move I have to question what I'm doing, how I thought of it, why it's the right move. And I can't keep doing this."

Liara cast her eyes down and returned them to Shepard, "How bad is it?"

Shepard bluntly responded, "I'll probably be insane before I die from my organs failing."

"I... What do you need?"

Shepard sighed and stared intently at Liara's eyes, "Liara you've known me longer than most. I've always trusted you. When I died you worked tirelessly to bring me back, I know you'll follow my every command. I need you to stop. I don't want to do this to you, but I need you to... monitor me. By the time I'm indoctrinated I'll probably be too far gone to notice. I need you... I need you to..."

Liara's eyes widened in surprise and realization, "You want me to kill you. By the Goddess Shepard..."

Shepard maintained his steely gaze, not averting his eyes for a second, "When the time comes I need someone to stop me."

"I... I... Shepard I can't-"

"Liara when I'm far enough gone it won't be me anymore. It'll be some collection of artificial will wearing my body. And at that point, you would be sparing me. I know it would... I know you might hesitate. But I believe you have the will to do what no one else could. The others... Ashley would feel guilty, not knowing if she was right because of how she mistakenly doubted me before. Vega would want me to fight it when I'm beyond help. Cynthia and Garrus... I don't think they could do it. You're the only person I trust to do this Liara. And I know that when the time comes you'll do the right thing. When the time comes you're the person I trust to make that call."

Liara gave Sheparrd a shocked stare, averting her eyes from him as he spoke. "I... I can't..."

Shepard stood up and wrapped his arms around Liara, "I know. I don't want to make you do this, but I don't have a choice. I need someone to keep an eye on everything I do." He pulled back and put his hand on her shoulder, "I need you Liara."

She nodded and hastily left the room while Shepard fell back into bed. They would be at Sur'Kesh in a few hours, and he didn't want to fall into the agony that sleep now brought daily. He was left little choice though, as soon the darkness consumed him and he was pulled under.

* * *

Tali should be here in a few chapters. Maybe two. Also GARRUS IS BACK!


End file.
